Maybe the Children of a Lesser God (Between Heaven and Hell)
by Home By Another Way
Summary: AU drabble series. In which Altair and Malik are part of YJ(S2), and cause unspeakable chaos together, as well as regularly kick ass. Current drabble: GAME. Summary: The new guys (Altair and Malik) get bored of video games and decide to play a game of tag. Awe-inspiring parkour ensues.


**Don't really know where this came from. All I know is that in the past couple of weeks I've become obsessed with Altair and Malik and the concept of Assassin's Creed. Haven't even played the game, just been reading fics, so I guess that makes me some kind of hopeless. *shrugs* Ah, well, I don't know and I don't care. I'm just here to contribute to the fandom! :)**

**And the plan for this collection is just a series of drabbles based on one word. I will try to update the collection once a week until inspiration runs out, but I think that will take a while as I had a lot of fun with this!**

**Different warnings will apply for different drabbles, so I will post every necessary warning at the beginning of each drabble. Also, these drabbles may not be in chronological order and some may be inter-connected. I will let you know if the need arises so as to alleviate unnecessary confusion (or at least try to).**

**Now that I've finished my spiel, I really hope you enjoy this first drabble!**

**WARNING: . . . mild violence?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Assassin's Creed or Young Justice. If I did I would probably die of happiness. :)**

**P.S. This is also my first attempt at dabbling with the characters of YJ Season 2, which will be the Team that is featured here. Season 1 characters may drop in randomly.**

**Drabble #1: Game**

**Summary:** The new guys (Altair and Malik) get bored of video games and decide to play a game of tag. Awe-inspiring parkour ensues.

**ACYJ2ACYJ2ACYJ2**

It was a vicious seven-way fight to the death. Punches were thrown, kicks were delivered with brutal efficiency, and bitter oaths could barely be heard over grunts of pain and exertion.

The seven brightly-dressed opponents wove around each other in the age-old dance of violence, their costumes somehow managing to survive the onslaught while their bodies shuddered and flickered and their life points dropped.

There was no strategy. It was simply a free-for-all brawl: warriors reveling in the thrill of the fight with wild abandon. For a while, the fighting was even, with no one managing to gain the upper-hand. But then the tide turned.

The Indian was the first to go down. He was stabbed through the ribcage with a scimitar, and collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from his wounds. His life points decreased woefully fast and he flickered out of existence forever.

With the Indian's death it was like a switch had been thrown. Within seconds the Shark Man, Monkey King, and Amazon had also fallen, defeated by a quick blow from either a scimitar or a short dagger, leaving the Ninja to face the Arabian Prince and Horus alone.

The Ninja only hesitated for a moment before using his powers to teleport behind the Arabian Prince, swinging his kunai in an attempt to land a fatal hit to the back of the neck.

He didn't count on Horus using his own powers to fly into his blind spot and skewer him with his gold-plated scimitar, keeping him from doing any real damage to the Arabian Prince.

The Ninja's life points were quickly depleted, and he flickered out of existence, leaving only Horus and the Arabian Prince to face each other on the battlefield. Eyes glinting in challenge, the two warriors crouched, waiting for the command to lunge forward and –

Their world was suddenly frozen as the screen lit up with bright red block letters that read: PAUSE.

"I'm bored," Altair announced, dropping the video game controller on the couch and standing up, stretching his arms above his head to work out the kinks in his back that had formed from sitting still for so long.

"How can you be bored?" Beast Boy demanded, throwing his hands up in the air as his green tail thrashed in frustration, "You've been kicking our butts at this game for the past two hours!"

Beneath the white cowl that cast most of his face in shadow, Altair's scarred lips twitched into a small smirk, "Exactly. It stopped being fun after the first eight times."

"_Why you-!_" La'gaan puffed up and leaped to his feet, only to be interrupted by his neighbor, who was sitting to his left.

"Alright, Altair," Malik said, crossing his arms, "I'm bored as well. What do you want to do instead?"

Altair's smirk faded for a moment as he pondered the question. Then it returned with a distinctly challenging tilt when he declared, "We should play a game of tag."

"Tag?" Cassie asked, her wounded pride at having lost every time to the newest recruits on the Team softening at the odd suggestion, "What's that?"

"You don't know what tag is?" Beast Boy asked incredulously. Then his eyes lit up with childish delight as he began to explain, "Basically, it's a game where one person is 'it' and tries to catch the other people. Whoever the 'it' person tags becomes 'it,' and the game starts again."

Cassie was silent for a moment, before she said apologetically, ". . . I don't understand."

Beast Boy's skinny shoulders slumped, and Robin came to the rescue, "The point is to avoid getting tagged by the person who is 'it.'"

The blonde girl's blank expression and uncomprehending silence prompted Jaime to try and give his two cents, "Look, it's really simple, you just—"

"Why don't we give you a demonstration?" Malik's deep, accented voice cut in, and the Team turned to see him wave a hand impatiently, "It would be easier if we just showed you."

"Okay," Cassie readily agreed, and Malik smiled, his teeth flashing.

"Alright," he said, "Since it was his idea in the first place, Altair can be 'it' first and try to catch me. That is –" Malik's dark eyes flickered in Altair's direction, "— if you think you're up to the challenge, _novice_."

The way Altair's scarred lips twisted could only be described as predatory, and the rest of the Team felt a collective shudder run down their spines.

"Start running and we'll find out," was all the hooded teen said, and then on some unspoken signal the two were off.

Malik went from seated to standing in an instant, and just as Altair lunged at him in a blur of white robes (because he had yet to change into civilian clothes after the Team's last mission), he leaped up on the back of the couch and ran along the narrow space nimbly, before somersaulting off the far side and dashing away.

Altair threw himself over the couch without hesitation, easily clearing the heads of the Team who were only just realizing the chase had apparently started. Yelping, they ducked before cautiously raising their heads to see what was going on.

The Team watched in shock as Malik and Altair darted around the room, leaping on, over, and around various pieces of furniture with all the grace of gazelles, using every available structure to their advantage – Malik to avoid getting caught, and Altair in an attempt to catch Malik.

Eventually they must have decided the furniture had outlived its usefulness, because they started climbing the walls as well.

Malik took a running start at one of the jagged rock walls of Mount Justice, Altair steadily gaining on him. Just as it seemed he would have to either skid to a stop or eat rock, Malik leaped into the air, easily clearing five feet. He planted his feet on the wall and pushed off again in a seamless backflip that carried him up and over Altair. The dark-skinned teen landed gracefully in a crouch, and turned back to face the wall.

Altair hadn't hesitated when Malik suddenly disappeared up the wall in front of him. Perhaps he had sensed Malik's impressive display of acrobatics taking place over his head, or seen the darker teen's shadow. In any case, Altair also kept up his dead sprint toward the wall. Instead of back-flipping off of it, he simply ran a short distance _straight up_, and then launched himself sideways, unerringly flying towards Malik.

The black-haired boy crouched on the ground saw his opponent shoot toward him in midair, propelled by speed and the strength of legs that had run many miles and climbed things much more difficult than a simple rock wall.

Malik saw the lightning-fast approach, and didn't even flinch: diving out of the way just as Altair landed in the space he had occupied not even a second before. Altair rolled with the impact, somersaulting once, twice, before using his remaining momentum to fluidly come to his feet.

He ended up facing Malik, who had also risen from his crouch. The two regarded each other for an adrenaline-charged moment, Malik somehow managing to maintain eye-contact with Altair even though it should have been impossible given the scarred teen's cowl.

Malik smirked, full of taunting fire and the thrill of the game, "Come on, novice. You'll have to do better if you have any hope of catching _me_."

Then he was gone, darting across the room and disappearing out the door that led deeper into the depths of Mount Justice. Altair was a blur of white hot on his trail.

The two vanished from sight in a manner of seconds, leaving the rest of the Team who were still seated on the couch to stare after them in bemused silence.

After a moment, Cassie hesitantly asked, "Is this 'tag' really so . . . acrobatic?"

The boys groaned and shook their heads.

"No," Jaime replied, staring after his white-cloaked teammates with wry amusement, "They just like to take things up to the Olympic level."

There was quiet for a few moments, before a half-hopeful Beast Boy held up Malik's abandoned video game controller.

"So," he said, "Who's up for another round?"

Shrugging off the awe-inspiring, yet horribly blown-out-of-proportions game of 'tag' they had just witnessed, the Team eagerly called affirmations and grabbed their video game remotes, settling in for another bloody battle.

"Now that Altair's gone, I'm gonna take all of you down!" La'gaan declared, hunching over and staring at the screen with determination visible in every line of his body.

Incensed, the other players roared in denial and challenge, and the game started again, the Team forgetting everything but the competitive desire to win and reclaim their extremely-abused pride.

. . . They never did find out who had won that game of 'tag.'

**ACYJ2ACYJ2ACYJ2**

**So . . . how was it? You will notice certain differences, such as Altair and Malik's ages, and the fact that Malik has both arms, but I hope it was still decent! Please tell me what you thought, and if you have a drabble word-suggestion, let me know and I will see if it speaks to my muse.**

**Customary random question: Who is your favorite - Kaldur or La'gaan? Personally, I think Kaldur is awesome. I admire his maturity and the sacrifices he had to make in YJ Season 2. My opinion of La'gaan is rather low, as I find him annoying and rather useless. No offense to those that like him. Perhaps you can share with me why you think he's a good character?**

****See ya'll next week (hopefully)!****

_****~Home By Another Way****_


End file.
